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As fast-paced as K-pop is, with frequent comebacks, debuts, and many songs accompanying them, it is still possible to become bored — keeping track of all the numerous releases is near impossible for the average K-pop fan, especially international fans whose main form of exposure to new music is largely dependent on them choosing to look up a new song and clicking the play button for a MV — which may not always happen. Fans may decide to stick to a select few groups and listen to only their music. But how long can you go listening to the same set of songs repeatedly, especially if your bias group has gone on hiatus, or is putting out music that is not to your liking? The staleness sets in eventually.

So, how does one spice things up and make one’s favourite music more interesting? Well, remixes are a good start. A new beat or arrangement serving to give an oft-listened to song a new lease of life to your ears, and can bring about new sounds that you may not have thought were possible. Of course, changing the instrumental can only take a song so far and the desire to try out something more outlandish may arise… which would be the cue for the mash-up to make its appearance. A mashup takes upwards of two songs and merges the various elements together to create a new sound experience, kind of like an aural Eton Mess; traditionally this involved taking the vocal track of one song and fitting it with the instrumental of another, though there are also nowadays more wholesome merging of full songs together. There are a lot of benefits to mashups, including seeing (and hearing) old favourites in a new light, as well as potentially discovering new songs that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. And for the fans who make these mashups, they get to express their love for K-pop in a productive manner that allows them to demonstrate and further improve their skills and talent.

K-pop mashups can be kosher with an all-K-pop mix, or can branch out to and mingle with music from other countries, the U.S. being the most common. Below, in random order, is a starter on some of the highlights from the vast K-pop mashup collection available online.

“MAMA vs. Twins Final” — DJDoushitekimi [Exo-K vs. Super Junior]

I’ve never listened to Super Junior’s debut song, so what a way to be introduced to it, paired with their hoobaes‘ own debut single. One of the great things about mashups is how they force the structure of one song to be changed to fit into the other, and this means that “MAMA” is arguably improved with the shedding of its Engrish chanting, though I do kind of miss the moaning of “Mama!” DJDoushitekimi’s mixes aren’t as clean as some others, but the mashup combinations presented and their arrangements are innovative.

Brazilian DJ Masa likely has the highest profile of all K-popping DJs online, with even a collaboration with Super Junior’s Shindong under his belt. DJ Masa has a way of matching not only the sounds of different songs seamlessly, but also the lyrics, so that the end product could almost be a stand-alone song. This can be seen in “The Goodbye Party,” which features the majority of the songs released in the second half of 2011 arranged in such a way as to tell a story and stick with the Goodbye theme. This, SM, is what I would call a “hybrid remix.”

The above are just a few of the many, many mashups available on the internet; how do you feel about mashups — do they keep the music interesting, or do you prefer your songs separate from others? What are your favourite mashups?